A. Move Less and Hope the Pain Goes Away
While you may feel like moving less, the truth is that joint pain is linked to the Vicious Cycle. The answer is not moving less. It's moving more. In fact, movement can be a magic pill—much better for you than any pain medications.
Let's learn more about Joint Pain.
Affect your mobility and flexibility. It can even interfere with your daily life and everyday activities. Getting up and moving around is one of the most important things you can do because not moving can result in additional pain and disability.
Take a severe toll on your well-being. It causes you to not function as well on a daily basis. You may think about the pain a lot and become depressed and irritable. You may even feel hopeless.
Cause you to not be able to sleep. When you are in pain or depressed, you are often unable to sleep, or you may wake up a lot during the night. Without good sleep, you are tired and unable to do your work well or even take care of your family.
Arthritis is a major cause of joint pain. Aging baby boomers aren't the only ones who have it. The majority of current cases of arthritis – 32.2 million- are in people under age 65. Research also found that 23.7 million Americans with arthritis have had to limit their activities because of the pain.
Arthritis can rob people of their lives and as a leading cause of disability, it is why people retire and go into assisted living. (CNN report 2017)
Protect your joints. Here are some tips:
- Massage the areas where it hurts with your hands.
- Ice the painful areas.
- Stretch your muscles around the sore areas and move carefully.
- Try relaxation to ease the pain, taking some time each day to relax.
Doctors are more likely to underestimate the pain of African-American women compared with other patients. This is according to a 2007 NIH study entitled "When Race Matters: Disagreement in Pain Perception Between Patients and Their Physicians in Primary Care."
Arthritis is a major cause of joint pain. It limits mobility and is known to be more severe in the African American community. In fact, more than half of African-American women report having doctor-diagnosed arthritis.
As a matriarch, wife, daughter, grandmother and sister, you may define yourself as a strong, independent black woman. You may prioritize self-sufficiency and control in the face of pain. However, when you are in pain, you can't be all that you need to be or want to be for family and friends. At times, the idea of taking care of yourself first may be a challenge. It is important that you seek help and not suffer in silence.
Hispanics/Latinas are 1.3 times more likely to have activity limitations. They are 1.6 times more likely to have work limitations, and 1.9 times more likely to have severe joint pain than the general population.
You may have cultural practices and traditions that include remedies and herbs related to pain that might be different from your healthcare providers. Or maybe you don't trust your doctor or nurse or think that he/she really understands your pain. Don't hesitate to share what you are feeling or say you don't understand. If you don't speak the same language, ask for an interpreter or translator. When you leave that visit, make sure you understand what you need to do and where to go for help if things don't improve.
You're on your way to solving the puzzle and breaking the cycle. Now you know more about Joint Pain. If you would like to go back to follow choice B, please click here. If you are ready to move forward, let's take a look at the next piece of the puzzle by clicking on Limited Mobility …
